(no subject)
As previously mentioned, after I had made the purchase of the diamond and the setting, we made our way upstairs for drinks. Yes, there was a bar on the premises. Do you think it’s because they want to get you a tad tipsy before making a significant purchase of something you’re likely to know very little about? That is why I had made the decision that we would be having celebratory cocktails, not nerve calming elixirs. And I am glad that I had decided that, incidentally because after I ordered my Maker’s Mark on the rocks, I was handed a bucket glass filled to the rim with Woodford’s Reserve (they were out of Maker’s). But seriously, this was at least 3, maybe 4 shots of bourbon in this glass. With an hour and a half to kill, I was able to finish two of these numbers, but as it turned out, I was so fired up from the day’s events, I don’t think I really felt it too, too much. We picked up the ring, our diamond merchant wished me an accented, “Good luck”, and some other woman customer in her fifties assured me of the beauty of my acquisition.
From here, San Francisco, that is, we began a journey to Napa Valley. Mind you, by this time of day, traffic as begun it daily nastiness of commute time road raging. It was about 3:30 pm, and although Napa is probably about 45 miles from the city, it’ll still take you about an hour and a half, at least, to get there. Why Napa? Kevin had to pick up some champagne from Mumm for his wedding. This is when I began to think about how I was going to ask Lesley.
People always want some sort of romantic tale. Like some outdoorsy couple hiking to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite and the man asking the woman at the top. Or football fans having the proposal done on the big screen at half time. (Half Dome, half time, what’s with the pattern?) Sometimes people think it could happen over dinner at some really fancy restaurant in some metropolitan area at the top of some skyscraper. Horse-back riding? After your team wins the Rose Bowl? With her father’s shotgun loaded and pointing at your back? Honestly, I didn’t have any of that. And quite frankly, she had kind of made things a tad more difficult for me to plan.
You see, I had planned on asking her the Friday after the purchase of the ring. I didn’t want to make too many plans because had anything gone wrong with getting to the Jewelry Mart, and me being unable to purchase, I didn’t really have a backup. For instance, if I had made some special travel plans with Lesley and the ring buying didn’t go through, I’d be kind of pissed, and she wouldn’t know why, and then I’d have to come up with some other plan later. Anyway, she foiled any plans for Friday when about a weekend before this sojourn, she had informed me of her plans to campout with her friend, Michelle, at a bookstore on the night of the final Harry Potter book release. That was the Friday I had planned on asking. “Did we have any plans that night?” What could I say? “I guess not.” I mean, if we were both really huge Potter fanatics, I could have dressed up like Ron or Harry, and had her dress like the girl, what is it, Herminie (?), and I could have asked her at the bookstore. But we aren’t really that big of dorks, so it really wouldn’t have been right. And since I wanted her to say yes, Harry Potter was not going to play into my plans.
That being said, Friday was out. And I have already explained why this Monday was so critical to the ring’s purchase. The following week, her parents would be in town. I didn’t want to do it then. That Saturday night was Kevin’s wedding, and I couldn’t do it there. There was always something planned, and I didn’t think I could hold on to the ring for a month waiting for the right moment. Besides, wouldn’t be nice if I could ask her before her parents came to visit? Wouldn’t that be cause for celebration? So at that point, Monday was as good as a Thursday, wasn’t it? And we were on our way to a winery to buy champagne, weren’t we? My mind got to work.